SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- The number of abortions performed in South Korea has decreased sharply over the past three years, as married women got fewer abortions, the country's health ministry said Friday.According to the ministry, the number of abortions performed on every 1,000 fertile women reac

Social Affairs Sept. 23, 2011

MEAUX, France, Sept 22, 2011 (AFP) -A French police court on Thursday issued its first fines against two women charged with wearing the full-face covering Islamic niqab.Police have issued several on-the-spot fines since the ban came into effect in April but these are the first court-issued fines, wi

World News Sept. 23, 2011

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Senate, led by Democrats, voted Thursday to approve the renewal of a worker training program, raising hopes of the ratification of free trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.President Barack Obama's push for extending the Trade Adjustment Assista

World News Sept. 23, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Hewlett-Packard has named Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO and California candidate for governor, as its new CEO, pushing aside Leo Apotheker after just 11 months on the job. Whitman got the top spot because there are few available people with the experience to run complex techn

Industry Sept. 23, 2011

SEATTLE, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Seattle on Thursday on his way home from New York, where he attended this year's session of the U.N. General Assembly and a high-level meeting on nuclear safety.Later Thursday, Lee was to hold talks with Washington State G

Politics Sept. 23, 2011

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and the United States will resume talks next month on recovering the remains of American troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War, a South Korean official said Friday.The move will follow a series of recent diplomatic efforts by South Korea and the U.S. to

North Korea Sept. 23, 2011

SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is pushing for the development of its own version of advanced Patriot missiles to counter North Korean ballistic missiles, military sources said Friday.Multiple sources said the state-run Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (DATQ) will complete by the en

Defense Sept. 23, 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) _ A dead 6-ton satellite is getting closer and closer, and is expected to smack down on Earth on Friday.NASA's old research satellite is expected to come crashing down through the atmosphere Friday afternoon, Eastern Time. The spacecraft will not be passing over North Am

World News Sept. 22, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — The developer of an Islamic cultural center near the site of the terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center says the biggest error on the project was not involving the families of 9/11 victims from the start."We made incredible mistakes," Sharif El-Gamal told The Ass

Podcast Sept. 22, 2011

Research over the last decade showing that proteins called sirtuins can increase lifespan is deeply flawed, according to a new study in Nature that debunks prior claims of a direct causal link.Pioneering experiments on earthworms and fruitflies -- commonly used as models to examine the biology of hu

Technology Sept. 22, 2011

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- A growing number of foreigners are interested in studying about Korea, spurred by the growing cultural power of Asia's fourth-largest economy, a report showed Thursday. Foreigners who applied for the Graduate School of Korean Studies (GSKS) at the state-run Academy of Kor

Social Affairs Sept. 22, 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A major study challenges the way diabetics and others with failing kidneys have been treated for half a century, finding that three-times-a-week dialysis to cleanse the blood of toxins may not be enough.Deaths, heart attacks and hospitalizations were much higher on the day a

Technology Sept. 22, 2011

A dog eating carnival in China dating back more than 600 years has been banned after public outrage at the cruel way the animals are slaughtered, state media said Wednesday.The dogs are killed and skinned in the streets of Qianxi township in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang during the festiv

World News Sept. 22, 2011

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, agreed Wednesday to cooperate closely in dealing with North Korea and moving relations between the two countries forward as they held their first face-to-face talks in New York."I expe

Politics Sept. 22, 2011